While there are debates in these political times, they aren't what they used to be. Nowadays, campaigns depend on big money to buy big television ads. Elections seemingly are won by who has the most money to buy TV time.

The Spring Chicken Festival held in downtown Gainesville this weekend surely must stir memories of those who remember the very popular Georgia Poultry Festival staged in the 1950s and '60s, just when the poultry industry was beginning to take off in Northeast Georgia.

Gainesville native Iverson D. Hudgins was characterized "a miracle man" because he survived the 1936 tornado despite being caught in the vortex of the twister, thrown high above his house, landing midst all manner of debris and leaving him with 17 fractures and nails in one eye and his jaw.

Woolley's Ford was one of those places on rivers in Northeast Georgia where people would cross either wading across shallows or riding a ferry. Bridges weren't all that common on such streams as the Chattahoochee or Chestatee until the late 1800s.

The first minister of Chestatee Baptist Church, John Edward "Jackie" Rives, was a successful farmer and merchant who turned preacher in 1833 after hearing a stirring sermon on swearing, a sin he admitted he was guilty of.